Moscow meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian, Armenian FMs ends
By Rashid Shirinov
A trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian Foreign Ministers, Elmar Mammadyarov, Sergey Lavrov and Edward Nalbandian was held in Moscow on April 28.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution was the key topic of the working meeting held on the initiative of the Russian side.
In Moscow, the ministers continued discussions on prospects for the progress of the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and stressed the need to implement the agreements reached at the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg in 2016, a diplomatic source told Trend.
The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers expressed gratitude to Russia for its efforts in promoting peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
FMs Mammadyarov, Lavrov and Nalbandian agreed to continue contacts on all the issues discussed.
Following the tripartite talks, the foreign ministers met with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and exchanged views on the state of affairs regarding the settlement of the conflict.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev, commenting on the Moscow meeting, told Trend that the foreign ministers will report on the results of the tripartite negotiations to the heads of the three states involved in this process.
"The foreign ministers discussed in detail the substantive talks held earlier at the level of presidents in Vienna and St. Petersburg," Hajiyev said.
Meanwhile, Armenia once again carried out armed provocation aiming to escalate the situation in the frontline. Thus, the air defense units of Armenia launched a guided rocket from the “Osa” surface-to-air missile system in Khojavend-Fizuli direction of the front.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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